A War of Two Kinds
by catsncritters
Summary: In the midst of a war, Harry realizes that love can be found no matter where you look for it. (eventual SLASH)
1. A Missing Flitwick

Title: A War of Two Kinds  
Author: Adrienne Wolter (catsncritters)  
Disclaimer: Why on Earth would I be writing fan fiction if I owned Potter?  
Warnings: Eventual SLASH. As in yaoi, or malexmale relationship. Don't like it, scat. Major age difference in the pairing. Don't like it, scat.  
Timeframe: Harry's 6th year.  
Rating: PG, just to be safe.  
Summary: In the midst of a war, Harry realizes that love can be found no matter where you look for it.

Yay, my third story on FFN! I've never written a Harry/Snape slash fanfic before, even though it's my absolute favorite pairing, so... ta da! Please tell me what you think and inform me if something's incorrect... I may be a Potter buff, but I'm still a human, and humans make mistakes. ^_^ Enjoy, and please review after reading.

.~*~.

Chapter 1 

"Enough!" Hermione told the classroom, standing up and taking a step back so she was in the front of the room. "I have no idea where Flitwick is, but it's been twenty minutes and he's not here. You all need to be _quiet_!"

The day was definitely not beginning normally.  
The murmur of conversation only died for an instant, and then started up again. The Ravenclaws were almost noisier than the Gryffindors, who they shared Charms classes with.  
Hermione tried and failed to lower the volume of their talking once more before Ron stood up and bellowed to the classroom, "shut up and listen to Hermione!"  
That got them quiet.  
"Thanks Ron," Hermione muttered, slightly red in the face, as Ron returned to his seat next to his best friend. Harry, propping his head on one hand, smirked at him and his eyes trailed around the room.  
"Now," Hermione, still blushing slightly, stepped up to the chalkboard. "We stopped at page 347 last class, and this class I assume..." she trailed off for a second, leafing through the book, then nodded. "We're continuing our practice of the cleaning and straightening charms. Neville, can you go get the ink bottles from the cupboard and give one to each table?" Neville nodded, getting up. "Thank you. Now, while you're waiting for the spilled ink, somebody over there get those wrinkled robes and pass one out to every person. Dean? Thanks."

She returned to Harry and Ron while everyone was preparing their materials. "Harry, Flitwick should be here by now, he's never been this late... can you maybe go to Dumbledore to tell him? Maybe he can make it here before too much of the lesson is up."  
"Oh, yeah, guess so," Harry looked somewhat reluctant at having to leave. Filch would get very angry with him if he didn't have a hall pass.  
"Thanks, Harry," Hermione said, before glancing up and groaning. Neville was covered from head to toe in ink. She rushed across the classroom, exasperated, and Harry left hurriedly. Annoyed Hermione was not a good thing to be in the same room with.

Clicking the door meant blocking out the entirety of the noise from the classroom. Harry had never realized how strong the silencing charms on the walls of the classrooms were before. He headed off in the direction of the headmaster's office.  
Sleepy portraits were yawning and stretching, having just woken up. A distraught portrait figure was shaking its cane at some birds in the canvas next to it, who had apparently been making a racket.  
Observing the portraits ended up making Harry run straight into someone.  
He would've been knocked sideways had the other person not caught him. Harry muttered 'thanks' before his eyes trailed up the cloak to the face of the other wizard.

"Have you got permission to be in the hallway twenty-five minutes after class has started, Potter?"  
Harry cursed his bad luck. Forget not wanting to run into Filch, that sounded much better than having run into Professor Snape.  
"What about _you_?" Harry asked him, still silently wishing he'd stayed in the classroom five minutes longer so Snape wouldn't be right here.  
"That's unimportant." Snape sneered in reply. "Where's your excuse, Potter?"  
_Might as well tell the truth_.  
"Flitwick's not in class yet, and it's been almost half an hour. Hermione sent me to tell someone."  
"I see. Since when has Miss Granger become the one to instruct classes?"  
Harry let out a noise in disbelief. "Sir, there's got to be some order to a class, even if a teacher isn't there."  
Snape raised an eyebrow.  
"Can I please go to Dumbledore's office now?" Harry asked impatiently.  
"No. Go back to class."  
"But Professor–"  
"Potter."  
Harry sighed inwardly and retraced his steps. He was surprised to hear Snape following behind him.

Hermione had gotten everything in order and had written the incantation on the board. She was holding up one of the robes to show the class how to iron them magically when Harry entered.  
"Brought Flitwick?" she mouthed, and then saw Snape behind him. She bit her lip. The room fell dead silent.  
"I see you have started the class yourself, Miss Granger. However invaluable your teachings may be to the class, please take your seat."

"I can't believe we made it through that class _alive_," Ron announced as soon as they were out of earshot.  
Hermione nodded slightly. "He seemed extra... sour today. Did he tell you what was annoying him?"  
Harry rolled his eyes and gave a short laugh. "What do _you_ think?"  
"Well, that's true, but... why was he in the hall? Wouldn't he be teaching?"  
"I guess he had a free period or something," Ron shrugged.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, except for Neville making his cauldron disappear in Potions. They could hear Snape yelling at Neville the whole way to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Good lord," Hermione muttered, getting herself some potatoes. "Snape twice in one day."  
"Yeah," Ron agreed through a mouthful of steak, "never want that to happen again."  
Harry, without realizing it, was only playing with his food. Hermione noticed and tilted her head at him. That was when Harry realized he wasn't hungry.  
"Not hungry," he told them, shrugging. "No idea. I think I'll go to the dorms early, maybe start some homework."  
Hermione approved of this and Ron and she got back to eating while Harry left for Gryffindor tower.

Turning out of the hall, he crashed. Again. Into the same person.  
This was getting really old, really fast.  
"Watch where you're going," Snape muttered before continuing into the hall. Harry blinked. Snape never muttered anything.  
Back in the common room, Harry realized he didn't want to do homework. He thought about returning to dinner, but decided they'd be leaving in a few minutes anyway. Maybe he'd visit Hedwig in the owlery.  
"What was that for?" called the Fat Lady as he set back out to the owlery. He paid her no attention and just continued walking.

Harry's trip to the owlery turned into wandering. He passed a group of Hufflepuffs heading to their common room and ended up at the infirmiry. He peered through the window idly, about to turn around, and froze.  
Lying in one of the beds, white as the sheets underneath him, was Professor Flitwick.  
He ducked down a little so that Dumbledore and Pomfrey wouldn't see him standing there. Even though he strained his ears to hear them, not a sound would travel through the hospital wing walls.  
"Potter, get back to your common room now!" Snape yelled sharply from behind him, causing Harry to jump three feet into the air, pivot sharply, fall over his own feet, and scramble back up to do as he was told. He once more cursed his bad luck. Being caught by Snape three times in one day had to be a record.

.~*~.

You likey? You no likey? Then reviewy! ^_^  
Next chappie comes soon, I need to see how I'm doing first.


	2. A Truth Potion

Title: A War of Two Kinds  
Author: Adrienne Wolter (catsncritters)  
Disclaimer: Why on Earth would I be writing fan fiction if I owned Potter?  
Warnings: Eventual SLASH. As in yaoi, or malexmale relationship. Don't like it, scat. Major age difference in the pairing. Don't like it, scat.  
Timeframe: Harry's 6th year.  
Rating: PG, just to be safe.  
Summary: In the midst of a war, Harry realizes that love can be found no matter where you look for it.

I got three positive reviews! Yay!! Anywho, here's the next part. Got a minor cliffie in it. Still working on the plot.

.~*~.

Chapter 2

"Harry!" was the first thing the boy heard upon entering the common room. He looked up to see Hermione and Ron at one of the low tables by the fireplace, seated on the floor and doing homework.  
"Hey Hermione, Ron."  
"Where did you go? Ron looked up in the sixth year dorms and you weren't in there." Hermione was talking extremely fast, like she wanted to say something.  
"Was going to visit Hedwig, but ended up getting caught by Snape again at the hospital wing."  
Ron blinked. "The hospital wing, mate? That's nowhere near the owlery...."  
"I dunno, just ended up there. But guess what, Flitwick's...."  
"Snape's going to be teaching Charms classes from now to the end of the year! McGonagall came and told us," Hermione said in one breath.  
"What?! Who's taking over Potions?"  
"We don't know yet," Hermione told him, shrugging.  
"Ugh, Charms is longer than Potions!"  
"I know," Ron told him. "What were you saying about Flitwick?"  
"He's in the hospital wing, white as a ghost," Harry told them quietly. "No idea what happened to him."  
"Huh," Hermione muttered, frowning.  
"But gosh, argh! Snape's probably going to be as grumpy teaching as he was today. I bet that's what got him, he found out he had to teach Charms. I bet he wishes it had been...."  
"Harry, has your scar hurt any lately?"  
Ron's ranting fell silent, and he looked at Harry.  
"No, hasn't," he answered.  
"Because it might've been a Death Eater attack that they're keeping quiet... maybe only one Death Eater?...."  
"Dunno," Harry shrugged. The conversation was dropped and they worked on homework.

At breakfast, Dumbledore stood and waited for the Hall to fall into silence, which didn't take long.  
"As most of you know, our Potions Master, Professor Snape has taken over teaching Charms classes." A wave of murmurs were sent over the room and it was again quiet. "I am going to be teaching Potions for the time being, until we can find a suitable substitute."  
He sat back down. Hermione frowned.  
"He hasn't told us what happened to Flitwick."  
"Potions without Snape?" Ron was saying. He was grinning.  
"Charms is still a longer class," Harry reminded him.  
"But why would Snape switch and then Dumbledore take over Snape's teaching duties? That messes everything up...."  
"And," Harry said, realizing something, "how did Snape teach the fourth year Charms class and Potions for us at the same time?"  
"No idea... maybe fourth years got a free period?"  
"Dunno," Ron said, chewing on another piece of steak.  
"Maybe he used a time-turner," Harry suggested jokingly. He glanced up at the Staff table.  
Snape was looking right at him.  
He furrowed his brows, wondering why Snape was watching him and his friends. They both watched each other, and the latter smirked and trailed his eyes over to the Slytherins.

"Harry?"  
Ron was waving a hand in front of Harry's eyes.  
"What? Sorry," Harry looked back down. He silently wondered how long he'd been looking up at the Staff table. Snape had looked away a while ago.  
"Never mind," Hermione shrugged.  
"What were you looking at?" Ron asked him. "You were kind of... staring off into space...."  
"Oh, it was nothing, was just thinking."  
"Kay," Hermione looked at Harry's plate. "Harry, eat something, you're going to starve yourself."  
Right on cue, Harry's stomach made a loud grumble. Ron laughed and sipped on his orange juice.

After Herbology was Potions. The trio took seats near the front of the class, anticipating Dumbledore's lessons. Since they had arrived a few minutes early along with the rest of the Gryffindors, they waited noisily.  
But it wasn't Dumbledore who entered the room two minutes late, it was Snape. Ron choked mid-sentence, being the one facing the door.  
"Get your books out," Snape snapped crossly. "Hurry up about it, I would like to finish last class's lesson today."  
Snape gave them some more potent ingredients for their potions, then gave them careful instructions on making Veritaserum.  
While waiting for the timer to go off, Harry, Ron, and Hermione whispered to each other.  
"Who is teaching Charms, you think?"  
"Dunno, maybe Dumbledore and Snape decided to switch?"  
Hermione added some chopped plants to the cauldron, causing the previously sludge-like potion to turn completely clear. They stopped talking for a few seconds to watch it.  
"It just doesn't seem right, I mean, if they keep switching...."  
"With my luck, Snape's teaching both Charms and Potions for us," Harry muttered. He stared at the floor for a minute until he saw something drip from the cauldron and looked up.  
"Hermione!" he hissed. Hermione turned quickly and removed the lid from the cauldron and added a powder-like substance.

"This potion should be finished by a quarter after. You will be testing it for the remainder of class." Snape passed out sheets with questions that Harry assumed were for them to ask each other to prove the validity of the potion. "Your potion should be completely transparent or slightly tinted green by now and the bubbling should have stopped."  
Ron peered down into the small cauldron. "It's clear."  
"How long is the potion going to last?" Harry asked Hermione, who glanced at the recipe in the book.  
"Says five minutes," Hermione told Ron and Harry, who nodded.  
"Fires out, follow the directions in _Magical Drafts and Potions_," Snape told the class, not looking up from the papers he was grading.  
Ron put the fire out with his wand, and Hermione read the next instruction in the book.  
"We need to let it cool for two minutes and then pour it into the phials," she read. Harry watched the second hand of the clock on the wall. Two minutes later, they divided the potion evenly between three small glass phials.  
"Who'll go first?" Hermione asked, grinning. Ron and Harry looked nervously at one another.  
"Oh well, no secrets, doesn't matter," Harry shrugged, waiting for Snape to instruct them to begin their questioning.

"When I tell you that you may do so, one person from your group of three will drink the entire phial of potion and the other two will alternate in the asking of questions. Try to finish them all in the time limit of five minutes. Use your remaining time however you'd like. When you are done, continue with the next person immediately unless," Snape's eyes narrowed out Neville from the rest of the students, "it is proven by the first person that the potion is... incorrectly prepared."  
Harry winced. Neville was shaking terribly, being chosen as the first to take the potion in his group. It was milky white.  
"You may begin."

Harry downed the potion in one gulp, blinking his eyes several times to try and get used to the feeling that sharp pieces of glass had been sent down his throat. The potion was freezing cold, but it seemed to burn.  
"Taste good?" Ron asked him sarcastically. Harry shook his head immediately.  
"Alright," Hermione scanned the list of questions. "These are really stupid questions, how are we supposed to prove if the potion works if they're questions like these?" She had become readier to talk back to teachers since the end of fifth year.  
Ron plucked the paper out of her hands and read the first question before handing it back. "What is your name?"  
"Harry James Potter," Harry said immediately. He didn't even have to think about the answers, they came before he could phrase them how he liked.  
"What year were you born?" Hermione read boredly.  
"1980."  
"Who were your parents?" Ron asked him, and then sent him an apologetic look.  
"James Potter and Lily Evans," Harry responded.  
"What house are you in?"  
"Gryffindor."  
"What class are you worst in?"  
"Potions."  
All three gave a small smile before continuing.

Ron finally reached the last question.  
"Who is your favorite professor teaching at the moment?"  
A pause. A long pause.  
"Harry?"  
"Did the potion wear off, Hermione?" Ron asked, but was cut off immediately by Harry's answer, which not only shocked his friends, but shocked himself too.  
"Professor Snape."

.~*~.

*Points at the review button*


	3. A Crystal Ball

Title: A War of Two Kinds  
Author: Adrienne Wolter (catsncritters)  
Disclaimer: Why on Earth would I be writing fan fiction if I owned Potter?  
Warnings: Eventual SLASH. As in yaoi, or malexmale relationship. Don't like it, scat. Major age difference in the pairing. Don't like it, scat.  
Timeframe: Harry's 6th year.  
Rating: PG, just to be safe.  
Summary: In the midst of a war, Harry realizes that love can be found no matter where you look for it.

Ten reviews, YAY! I would've gotten this out sooner (agh, it's been more than a week since I uploaded the last chappie), but I got stuck and then was cleaning my room like mad for a few days. The next chapter may get me a bit stuck too, but for a different reason. I have two ideas I could go with, but need to do some trial-and-error to see which one would work better. : )

.~*~.

Chapter 3 

They were silent for a few seconds, letting the surprise sink in.  
"Er, mate," Ron looked at him, unsure of what to think. "That was a really, really bad joke, right?"  
"No," Harry said immediately, and there was a second before his brain caught up with his mouth. He had a really disbelieving face.  
"Wears off in ten seconds," Hermione noted, watching the clock.  
Ron was next, then Hermione. The bell rang for lunch. Harry glanced at the Potions Master while helping Hermione and Ron hurriedly wash out the cauldron and replace it on the shelf. Snape was watching them, frowning.  
"Harry, you get the stuff on the floor, Ron and I can get this."  
Cleaning up the spilled liquid on the floor meant going up to the front of the room, right in front of Snape's desk. He silently made eye contact with said teacher before kneeling to wipe up the spilt Veritaserum with a quick spell.  
"Alright, let's go," Ron said, and they grabbed their bags and left.

"Snape was watching me," Harry muttered as soon as they were out of the range of earshot of the classroom.  
"After that, I'd be surprised if he hadn't have," Hermione told him.  
"But why? I hate him...."  
"You can figure that one out, Harry," Ron told him, seating himself and starting to get himself some bacon.  
"Maybe you just think you hate him, but you really respect him more than any of your other teachers, Harry. He _does_ spy for our side, after all."  
"'E treabs you li' scub," Ron said, through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. Harry made a face when a bit of potato flew out of his friend's mouth and landed on his plate. Hermione winced.  
"Don't talk with your mouth full, Ron," she chided him, sipping orange juice.  
"After lunch is Transfiguration, isn't it?" Harry asked Hermione. She nodded.  
"Then I have Arithmancy and you and Ron have... Divination," she told him, wrinkling her nose for a second or two. Harry and Ron smirked.  
"Then dinner!" Ron said, plucking a chicken leg off of a pile of them and biting into it.  
"Honestly, Ron, all you think about is food," Hermione murmured, biting into a piece of toast.  
Said wizard shrugged and glanced up at the large clock on the wall behind the staff table.  
"We should probably get our books," Harry told them, also seeing the time.  
"Yeah," Hermione agreed, standing up and stretching her legs. The trio hurried to the common room so they wouldn't be late for their next class.  
"Here, Ron," Harry called his best friend, tossing him a book. "You left your Divination book on my trunk."  
"Oops. Thanks Harry," Ron answered. They left for the common room in a hurry, and Harry tripped on the steps, leaving the entirety of the contents of his bag flung as far as the fireplace screen across the room. Harry gave a short laugh and went to gathering his wand, books, and Transfiguration flashcards.  
"I'll meet you there, guys, sorry," Harry told them, waving them off.  
"Hurry Harry!" Hermione told him before disappearing out of the room through the portrait hole. Harry gave the room a final check for his stuff a minute or so later, and left at a run as he heard the bell ring. Transfiguration was a while away.  
Peeves, deciding to be invisible, threw pieces of what used to be chalk at him, one of which hit Harry's eye behind his glasses, causing him to slow down from the lack of one of his eyes for the moment.  
"What are you doing in the hallway after class has started, Potter?"  
Fantastic. Again.

"Just let me go to Transfiguration and I won't be so late."  
"What are you doing in the hallway, Potter?"  
"Trying to get to Transfiguration, professor," Harry told Snape through gritted teeth.  
"Do you need someone to tell you when to get ready for each class?" Snape sneered sarcastically. Harry felt like growling.  
"Just let me go to Transfiguration, this won't happen again."  
"It better not, or you'll have detention with me in my office, Potter." Snape turned and started towards the Charms classroom, slightly faster than a normal walk. Harry wasn't very pleased at having to follow Snape some of the way to his class, but thought it best not to comment on himself not being the only one who was late for class.

"Where have you been, Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked him when he entered, halting the lecture she was giving and drawing the entire class' attention to Harry.  
_Ugh. Not another 'where were you' thing._  
"Professor Snape stopped me in the hallway, otherwise I would've been here sooner, professor."  
"Take your seat and share someone's textbook with them then," McGonagall told him. Harry went to sit with Ron and Hermione.

"Human transformation lessons," Hermione noted enthusiastically on their way out. "How exciting!"  
"Just as long as I don't need to be the test target of anything," yawned Ron. Hermione turned down a corridor to Arithmancy and the other two continued up some staircases to Divination.

Trelawney had recently begun teaching a sort of advanced crystal-gazing. Ron and Harry weren't getting anything, but made up quite a bit.

"See anything in it?" Harry asked, poking the crystal ball.  
"Please do not leave fingerprints on these orbs, my dears," Trelawney called out to the class almost immediately afterward. Ron snorted and covered it with a cough when half the class looked at him from other ends of the silent classroom.  
"Other than a bunch of sparkley fog, no, not really," Ron answered, peering into the side of the orb with one eye shut.  
"Me neither," Harry muttered, and leaned back in his chair to think a moment. He was just about to scribble something imaginary on his parchment when he happened to glance at it for ideas, look back at the parchment, do a double take, and fall backwards out of his chair.  
"Harry?" Ron was out of his pouf instantly, standing on tiptoe to see over the table at where Harry was sprawled on the floor.  
Harry scrambled and watched an image inside of the ball, completely and utterly oblivious to the rest of the students staring at him.  
"I saw something!"

.~*~.

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